Abstract
My technical capstone work was a drainage improvements project redesigning an undersized
bridge that has been frequently flooding. I was motivated to choose this project by the
opportunity to work on something that is interdisciplinary within civil engineering and has a
heavy environmental focus. In my time at the University of Virginia, I studied environmental and
water resources engineering while also gaining internship experience in the transportation and
infrastructure field between academic years. I wanted to bridge these two experiences in different
civil engineering subareas to develop a better understanding of how these disciplines go together.
Beyond transportation and water resources, this project also involves structural engineering,
which is something that I lack experience in. For this reason, I valued working in a team with
diverse technical backgrounds. We worked to convey the flow of the 100-year storm flow
through the crossing, but analyzing the water quality is something that was outside of our scope.
Even though this was outside of our capstone project scope, the emphasis on nature-based
solutions for stormwater management is something that I really appreciate in civil engineering.
With the large volume of runoff that is causing flooding, I wanted to look deeper into the
challenge of pollution that comes with managing runoff for my STS research. I have chosen a
successful nonpoint source pollution mitigation project to identify what allowed for this success
and the implications of this case study. Because nonpoint source pollution is inherently difficult
to manage, I was interested to see what conclusions I could draw about the needs of these types
of projects.
Located in Chesterfield, VA, the crossing of Otterdale Road crosses Blackman Creek over a
45-foot single span bridge. Otterdale Road is a 2-lane undivided roadway with discontinuous
shoulders. Both the structure and roadway fail to meet current Virginia Department of
Transportation (VDOT) safety standards. With increasing residential development in the area,
the volume of stormwater runoff during precipitation events has increased significantly. This has
caused overtopping of the stream banks and flooding into the roadway, resulting in road closures
and safety concerns for residents and emergency vehicles. The purpose of this project is to
design a new crossing that will successfully convey the flow of the current 100-year storm, meet
the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) “No-Rise” condition, and adhere to
VDOT standards. Beyond these criteria, we prioritized improving safety and minimizing cost,
construction time, and environmental impact of our final design for the crossing. Finalizing the
design required a few rounds of iteration between Hydrologic Engineering Center River Analysis
Software (HEC-RAS) modeling and reviewing structural information to determine the required
hydraulic opening and effective bridge geometry. We landed on a Triple CON/SPAN O-Series
Bridge System, which is a prefabricated arch bridge structure that we will be placing three in
series. To carry Otterdale Road over this new structure, the vertical profile had to be raised. For
the section of the roadway that was being replaced to tie into existing conditions, the horizontal
curvature was smoothed, and shoulders were widened to improve safety for drivers, pedestrians,
and bikers.
My STS research paper is a case study analysis of the Elliott Ditch Nonpoint Source Success
in Indiana. This is a project funded by the Clean Water Act Section 319 Grant program, which
provides funding for nonpoint source management projects. Despite this program, nonpoint
source pollution persists as a significant driver of pollutant loads in impaired U.S. waters. This
case study is analyzed using Actor-Network Theory to determine what allowed for success in
managing nonpoint source pollution, as it is a very site specific and challenging type of pollution
to manage by nature. This project is a collaboration across local, state, and federal levels in
implementing best management practices, but the case study analysis focuses on the Wabash
River Enhancement Corporation (WREC) in particular. I find that fostering interconnectedness
within the community in addition to a connection between the community and the environment is
what allowed the WREC to generate the support and participation needed to improve the water
quality of the Elliott Ditch. The WREC did this through intentional outreach and education
programs that went beyond teaching residents why this was an important cause, cultivating an
environment where residents could learn from and encourage each other in these efforts.
Working on both projects simultaneously provided an interesting perspective of both local
and national implications of civil engineering. My technical capstone focused on the local
implications of improving safety for people living and working in that project area. On the other
hand, my STS research focused on the national implications of how we can improve the way that
the Clean Water Act Section 319 Grant is used and how nonpoint source projects are approached
to restore the long list of impaired U.S. waters. Both projects ultimately stem from the trend of
increasing development in the nation that creates more pollution and more runoff. Focusing on
policy in my STS research and learning about how the WREC utilized this grant program
prompted me to think a lot about how we would take the next step of the design for Otterdale
Road. Although stormwater management was out of the scope of the project, it is important to
understand the policy and how we would be engaging with it if we were to consider which BMPs
would be appropriate and how we would pay for them.
